Bookmaker News – Sunday Ban Continues to Anger Irish Layers

Sat in my living room, laptop on knee, watching an excellent Sunday card at Fairyhouse‘s Irish National meeting and awaiting the kick-off of today’s featured Premier League game, one can’t but sympathise with Ireland’s high street bookmakers, who are also probably sat at home watching the racing but definitely wish they weren’t. Now I don’t want to spark a religion versus racing debate, especially on one of the holiest days of the Christian calendar. But the Irish Bookmakers Association appear to have a point about the restriction on the country’s betting shops being allowed to open on Easter Sunday, especially as anyone can simply log on to the internet and have any amount of options as to where to lose their money. The association remain perplexed over what they describe as ‘archaic and completely out of date’ laws, claiming the continued enforcement of said legislation is not only costing the betting industry millions of pounds but also hitting the state which, of course, takes its cut in betting tax. The IBA do appear to have a point, being penalised for the simple physical act of opening a door. The Betting Act, the law which prevents shops opening, was drafted in 1931 – ‘in a different time and in a different Ireland’ – according to bookmakers, who claim it is ‘economic madness’ that the government continues to ignore its protestations. The trouble is the IBA can’t really plead equality with other outlets or, indeed, point a finger across the Irish Sea to how things are done in England. For example, this is the first Easter Sunday in around 15 years that I’ve not actually been working in an office somewhere so I had no idea that nearly everywhere else was shut, apart from McDonalds and the local KFC. At least that saved me some money on a new carpet, unfortunately it also means I’ll have to settle for sharing a family bucket instead of a roast dinner. Happy Easter everyone!